Turning an Overlooked Need into Collective Community Care
TP the Town (Toilet Paper Town) – Community Volunteer Initiative
Role: Dan Hendry
Year: 2019
Community service is often most impactful when it addresses a basic, overlooked need with creativity and care. TP the Town is a powerful example of that approach. Founded by my friend Morgan Pierce, this Kingston‑based community initiative focused on collecting toilet paper for the local food bank—a high‑demand item that is rarely donated, yet essential for dignity and daily living.
My involvement in TP the Town was as a volunteer, supporting the initiative through communications, promotion, and on‑the‑day engagement. While Morgan led the overall organization and coordination of the drive, my role focused on helping amplify the message and support community participation. The concept behind the initiative was intentionally simple: partner with grocery stores across Kingston, raise awareness about the need, and make it easy for shoppers to add toilet paper to their carts and donate it immediately.
In the lead‑up to the event, I supported communications efforts to help explain why toilet paper donations mattered and how residents could get involved. On the day of the drive, I helped support the visible, in‑store presence—answering questions, reinforcing the purpose of the initiative, and helping connect spontaneous generosity to a clear and immediate community need.
The result was a remarkably effective collective effort. Year after year, TP the Town demonstrated how a simple, well‑communicated idea could mobilize thousands of small actions into meaningful impact. In one of its largest years, the initiative collected more than 100,000 rolls of toilet paper in a single day, directly supporting the Kingston Food Bank and the families it serves.
What stood out most to me about TP the Town was how it reframed giving. By identifying a gap in typical donation patterns and making the response visible, tangible, and easy, the campaign transformed an ordinary shopping trip into an act of community care. It showed that people want to help—they just need to clearly understand how.
Supporting TP the Town reinforced a lesson I’ve seen across many forms of community work: impact does not always require complex systems or large budgets. Sometimes it starts with noticing what’s missing, telling the story well, and making it simple for people to step in. Even the most ordinary item can become a symbol of shared responsibility when a community comes together with intention.
Related Links & Media: https://sookenewsmirror.com/2019/10/11/fifth-annual-tp-the-town-event-collects-105000-of-toilet-paper/